Probable Paws (Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series Book 5) (7 page)

“This doesn’t really prove anything. Maybe Josie had an appointment or was meeting someone. Just because she went out that morning doesn’t mean she killed your grandmother.”

“That’s true, but if that were the case, then why did she lie?”

“She lied?”

Max nodded. “Aunt Marion’s shrieks brought the whole family to Gram’s room. We called the ambulance. While we were waiting, I noticed Josie wasn’t there. Which was a little odd because she usually doesn’t get up until noon. We thought maybe she didn’t hear the commotion, so Evie went down to her room, but she wasn’t there. Then the EMTs came and things got crazy. They worked on Gram for a while, but she was already gone.” Max’s voice broke, and he looked away.

“That must have been hard,” I said.

He sniffed and swiped his nose with the sleeve of his hoodie. “Anyway, as they were leaving, Josie came sauntering down the hall in her bathrobe. She acted surprised about Gram, but I don’t think she really was. She claimed she wasn’t in her room, as she’d fallen asleep in the library, and you can’t hear a thing that is going on in the house from in there, so we all believed her. It wasn’t until a few days later that I got the idea to look at the surveillance videos from that morning. I don’t usually look at them at all but wanted to see them bringing Gram out. Anyway, imagine my surprise when I rewound it a bit and saw Josie leaving in her car earlier that morning.” He tapped on the lower right corner of the video. “See, it’s time-stamped.”

“Hmm. I see.” He did have a point. Why would Josie lie if she was innocent? “But
why
would she want to kill your grandmother?”

“I’m not sure. She’s not very stable, if you ask me. I know Gram wasn’t too happy with her. Maybe she was afraid Gram was going to cut her out of the will or something.”

“Was she?” I cut my eyes over to Adelaide, who shook her head.

Max shrugged. “If she was, no one said anything to me.”

“Did Josie or anyone mention a recipe book?”

“Recipe book? No. We have a cook, so no one needs recipes. Well, Brian tried to cook dinner for Julie once, but he set the smoke detectors off.” Max shifted on his feet. “What have you found in your investigation?”

“My investigation? Umm … well, I haven’t found out much yet.” If I kept him thinking that I was investigating Adelaide’s death, his information might help me get the recipe book. “But thank you for coming to me with this. I’m sure it will help.”

“Right. Well, if you need my help again, here’s my cell number.” Max handed me a piece of paper then left.

I stared after him as he closed the door. It was certainly a change of heart after his angry reaction at finding me at the cottage, but maybe I’d taken him by surprise last night. He did say he’d checked into me. He probably discovered I had an aptitude for solving murders, and since he already had suspicions about it himself, he just assumed I was looking into Adelaide’s death. Though it did seem odd he would turn in his own family. Was it possible he had something to do with Adelaide’s murder and he was trying to throw me off track?

“Max didn’t have anything to do with my death. I told you he’s a good boy,” Adelaide said. Could she read my mind?

“Is he telling the truth? Was Josie not there when you were discovered?”

“I don’t know. When I woke up, I was on the mortician’s table. I doubt my own daughter would try to kill me, but I was so very sleepy that night, and when I woke up, my head felt heavy, so I think someone did …”

“And what about
Betty’s Recipes
? What does that have to do with any of this?”

Adelaide scrunched her brows together. “Surely you know how important recipes are.”

“You said it was in the daisy patch. Did you mean the one in front of the cottage where Max has his computers?”

“Daisy patch? What are you talking about? I never said that. I said it was with Daisy…but now I’m not sure. It seems everything has been moved around. Someone has been messing with my things.”

Great. I was no closer than before to finding the book, and now I had a potential recipe-book-stealing-killer to deal with. “So where do you suggest I look, then?”

“I’m not really sure. But I know you will figure it out. You have a knack for these things.”

I opened my mouth to ask more questions, but Adelaide cut me off. “Oh, by the way, your grandmother dropped by to visit me, and she’s doing great in the afterlife. She said to tell you that you were doing a good job and she’s very proud of you.”

“Really?” My eyes stung. I’d seen quite a few ghosts since I’d gotten this rare ability, but never once had Gram come to me. Even though she was the one ghost I would’ve loved to speak with. The thought that she was doing well and watching over me from beyond warmed my heart.

“Yes indeed. And she wanted me to remind you not to forget to believe in magic.” And then Adelaide disappeared before I could ask any more questions about her killer, the recipe book, or my grandmother.

L
ater that day
, I was crouched in the art aisle, trying to stuff a tall book into the bottom bookshelf, my leg cramping somewhat from the effort, when the bell over the door chimed and a familiar voice called out from the front room.

“I’m baa-ack…”

“Pepper!” I shoved the book into place and darted out front.

Pepper was standing in the doorway, her red hair pulled into a tight chignon at the base of her neck, one long strand falling down beside her oval face. Her pink T-shirt and black yoga pants with matching pink stripes on the sides were just loose enough to be tasteful while still showing off her slim figure. In her left hand, she balanced a silver tray complete with coffeepot, cups and saucers, and a crystal creamer and sugar bowl. A doily-covered plate loaded with scones rested beside the teapot.

I rushed over and took the tray, setting it on the coffee table and giving her a hug. “How was your trip?”

“It was great. You know I love to see the family.” We sat on the sofa, and Pepper busied herself pouring coffee and putting the scones on little white napkins. “How are things here?”

“Oh, nothing new here. A ghost appeared and wanted me to find some weird book, and then I find out she’s been murdered. The usual stuff.”

Pepper laughed then turned somber. “Wait, that means someone died. Who was it?”

“Adelaide Hamilton.”

Pepper nibbled her scone thoughtfully. “I remember her. I didn’t know her well. So her ghost contacted you?”

“Yes.” It felt wonderful to finally be able to talk to someone about Adelaide’s ghost. Pepper was the only one who knew I talked to dead people. It wasn’t exactly something I wanted to be public knowledge.

We sipped the coffee and nibbled the scones while I told her the whole story, starting from Adelaide’s appearance at her own wake and ending with Max’s video and his suspicions of his grandmother being murdered.

“What do Gus and Striker say about her murder?”

“Gus seemed convinced it was natural causes the other day, but something must’ve happened in the meantime. Otherwise why would Striker have been at the Hamilton mansion at night?”

Pepper shrugged. “Well, he could have just been patrolling like he said. Maybe he saw your car and followed you. How are things between the two of you, anyway?”

Good question. “Things are okay. It does kind of put a damper on dating when a ghost keeps popping up everywhere.”

Pepper laughed and settled back in the couch. “Well, then I guess you’ll just have to do what you need to do to get rid of her. So I assume you’re investigating? What have you found?”

I shook my head. “I’m not investigating her murder. Adelaide never asked me to. She just wanted me to find the book.”

Pepper squinted at me as though she had a headache. “What book?”

“Some recipe book. Weird thing is that Gram actually mentioned the book in her will. Wanted to make sure it got to Elspeth, but I never found it in her belongings.”

Pepper’s face turned serious. She put her coffee cup down, spilling a little bit of mocha-colored liquid onto the white saucer. “Did you say
recipe
book?”

“Yeah, it was a friend of theirs, Betty. Must have some really good recipes in it.”

Peppers eyes widened. “Betty’s recipes?”

“Yeah. You’ve heard of it?”

“My grandmother mentioned it…” Pepper’s voice trailed off. Pepper had always said her grandmother was magic. In fact, that’s where she had gotten her recipes for the special teas she made, which she claimed could produce enchanting results. And it wasn’t just the herbs she used—Pepper claimed to have inherited certain spiritualistic gifts that she used to infuse the tea. She’d been making magic tea since we were kids, and I’d often brushed them off as fanciful…but lately I’d come to realize that maybe Pepper’s teas really did have something special to them. If Pepper’s grandmother had mentioned
Betty’s Recipes
, the book might contain more than just your average recipes for breads and stews.

“You don’t mean…” I couldn’t bring myself to say it, but it made sense with everything that was going on. I should’ve thought of it before—why would a ghost care about a book? Only one reason. That book was important. Even my own grandmother had mentioned it in her will.

“That’s not a book of recipes, Willa. That book is a spell book.”

“
Meow!
” Pandora came trotting out from the back room and rubbed her head against Pepper’s leg while I absorbed the information. Of course it was a book of spells—why else would it be so important? I’d known there had to be more to it. But spells? My grandmother hadn’t been involved with spells, had she? I thought about Adelaide’s recent message from my grandmother—she’d said “don’t forget to believe in magic.”

The practical side of me wanted to scoff that there was no such thing as a spell book, but seeing as I talked to ghosts, I could hardly just dismiss the idea of mysticism and magic. It didn’t matter anyway—whether the book was full of recipes for spells or not, I still had to find it.

“No matter what’s in that book, I need to find it, or Adelaide is going to keep popping up and ruining my dates with Striker.”

“But now it may be more complicated than you thought. I mean, if it really is a spell book, others will be after it.”

“And it might give someone motive to kill Adelaide … but why kill her now?”

Pepper shrugged. “Maybe they got tired of waiting. You did say that her cancer was in remission. Maybe whoever it was got frustrated and decided to take a chance.”

“So someone in Adelaide’s house might want the spell book for themselves? Like a witch?”

“Yeah, and not the good kind, either.” Pepper’s emerald eyes darkened. “If Adelaide had the book in her care, then she was one of the good guys. Like your grandmother and mine. But if someone killed her to get it, then that person would want to use the spells for evil intent.”

“
Meow!
” Pandora jumped up on the coffee table.

“Hey, that’s not polite.” I shooed her away, and she hopped down reluctantly, leaving a deep scratch mark with her claw. I could have sworn she smirked over her shoulder at me as she trotted back to her cushion in the window.

“But which one is it?” I wondered. “Josie was leaving in the car that morning. Did she kill her mother and then take the book somewhere? Or maybe it was Evie…Max said she did creepy things under the full moon. But then it could also be Max trying to throw us off track.”

“It could be any of them or all of them,” Pepper said. “We don’t know if Adelaide was killed or if the book has already fallen into wicked hands. You still need to make an attempt to find it and get it to Elspeth.”

“And one way to do that would be to find Adelaide’s killer.”

“
Mew!
” Pandora lay with her paws curled in front of her and her tail swishing behind her as she listened to our conversation, giving the impression that she actually knew what we were saying.

“I need to go back into the Hamiltons’. I think I might have been onto something in the library, but I doubt they are going to let me in again.”

“Now
that
,” Pepper said as she piled the teacups, napkins, and other items onto the tea tray, “I can help you with. I haven’t paid my respects yet, and I’m sure I should bring them a soothing tea. One that might give them loose lips and cause them to blurt out the truth. You can come with me.”

“Okay.” My voice rose an uncertain octave at the end of the word. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go with Pepper, but her teas … well, as I said, I had come to believe there was something about them. It was just unfortunate that they often backfired. I was worried about what a tea that was supposed to give people loose lips would actually do.

Pepper neatly placed the last napkin on the tray and then leaned back on the couch with a smirk on her face. “So you believe in this stuff now, don’t you?”

Pepper got a kick out of the fact that I resisted believing in magic despite the fact that I talked to ghosts. But now, I was starting to be a little more open minded. There were a lot of things going on that could only be explained away with magic. But I didn’t need to admit that to Pepper. She’d just gloat. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

“Huh.” She hefted the tray and stood. “Well, I better be getting back to my shop. Do you want to go to the Hamiltons’ tomorrow around noon? I can get Camilla to watch the store.”

“Sounds good.”

“
Meeoo!
” Pandora chimed in.

“No, you can’t come.”

Pandora arched her back and hissed then spun around in her bed, curling up with her nose tucked under her tail and her back to me.

Pepper laughed as she opened the door. “I see she hasn’t changed. If only she knew she’s much better off staying here. Our visit tomorrow could be dangerous, especially if one of the Hamiltons turns out to be a cold-blooded killer.”

T
he next morning
, the bookstore was busy with customers. I made a tidy sum on a first edition of
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards
and sold dozens of other books for more modest sums. I didn’t have much time to think about the Hamiltons or which one of them was a killer. For all I knew, they’d all been in on it together.

It all made perfect sense now. Even though Gus had claimed that Adelaide died of natural causes, Max’s suspicions and what Adelaide herself had said combined with the fact that Striker had been nosing around the Hamilton estate all led in the same direction—murder.

It was funny, though. Gus usually didn’t lie to me to keep me from investigating murders. Maybe she was trying a new tactic to keep me away. I guessed I’d have the last laugh, since it didn’t work.

Too bad I hadn’t had a chance to try to use my powers of persuasion to extract information from Striker. He’d been suspiciously absent. I hadn’t even gotten a how-you-doing text from him. I had to admit that I’d harbored a secret hope that he would show up at my house for dinner the previous night, but the only thing I had found on my doorstep was a red-and-white-checkered-cloth-covered picnic basket that held the most delicious beef stew and biscuits from Elspeth. She even included a piece of her mouthwatering apple pie and a little handmade treat for Pandora along with a note in her scrawling handwriting stating it was one of her favorite dishes but she hoped she’d gotten the recipe correct.

Was the mention of the word “recipe” a coincidence? I wondered how much Elspeth actually knew about the recipe book. Gram had said I should give it to Elspeth. If it was a spell book, wouldn’t Elspeth know that? Maybe Elspeth knew about magic and all her “lucky guesses” weren’t really guesses at all.

Before I had any more time to think about Elspeth, Pepper appeared, carrying the pink-and-green quilted tea cozy bag she had custom-made specifically to keep the water warm in her teapot. It also had sections for scones, tea, sugar, and milk. It was her own mobile tea shop.

I eyed the bag warily as we drove to the Hamilton mansion. “Is the loose-lip tea in there?”

Pepper smiled. “Hopefully. I also infused it with a droning charm. Whoever drinks the tea will drone on and on without noticing what’s going on around them. I figured I could keep the Hamiltons busy with that while you slip out and check the library.”

The mansion looked more imposing today than it had on my previous visit. Perhaps it was because I now knew that a murderer lived inside. Pepper ascended the granite steps with her quilted bag slung over her shoulder and knocked on the wooden door. The butler—I remembered his name was John from the other day—opened it, raising a brow at Pepper and then looking down his nose at me.

“Did you leave something here the other day?” he asked.

“She’s with me. I’ve come to pay my respects. I brought a special herbal tea for the family.” Pepper held up the bag and gave him her sweetest smile. Obviously he was a lot more taken with her than he had been with me, because he opened the door wide and said, “Of course. Come right in.”

Pepper breezed in, and he smiled as she passed him, then his smile snapped into a frown as he looked at me with my right foot tentatively poised over the threshold. “I suppose you can come in, too.”

We followed him down the hall to the same room where I’d talked to the family the other day. Josie was the only one there today. She wore faded jeans and a white silk blouse and was slumped on the off-white linen sofa looking as if she were almost asleep.

“Ahem.” John cleared his throat.

Josie jerked awake with a half snore and looked at us with bleary eyes. “Wha?”

“You have visitors,” the butler said then did his disappearing act.

Pepper sat beside Josie, taking her hand. “I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m Pepper St. Onge, from The Tea Shoppe downtown.”

“Yes, of course.” Josie’s eyes drifted to the bag.

“I brought tea.” Pepper opened the bag and produced a silver trivet, which she placed on the coffee table. Then she reached in and pulled out a matching silver teapot and put that gently on top of the trivet. She proceeded to reach in several more times, coming up with embroidered napkins, cups and saucers, matching silver creamer and sugar, a doily-covered plate, and an assortment of scones.

Josie watched as if mesmerized. I couldn’t really blame her. She was probably wondering, as I was, how Pepper fit all that stuff in the small bag. It reminded me of those small cars at the circus that an impossible number of clowns pile out of.

“I brought enough for everyone,” Pepper said, looking around the room. “Where are the other Hamilton family members?”

Josie looked up as if just noticing no one else was in the room. She waved her hand. “Oh, they’re around somewhere.”

Pepper cast a glance at me, and I shrugged.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll like this tea. I created it specifically to help with grief,” Pepper said as she handed the steaming cup to Josie.

Josie took a tentative sip, her red lipstick marring the rim of the white porcelain teacup. She frowned, swirling the liquid around her mouth, and then swallowed. “Oh, it’s quite good.”

We sipped and nibbled politely while Pepper soothed Josie with simple questions. I only pretended to drink the tea. I wasn’t sure if it really worked, but I wasn’t taking any chances on getting “loose lips.” I did notice that Josie became more talkative as time passed. Was the tea really working, or was she just finally starting to wake up from the nap we’d obviously interrupted?

“It must have been awful finding your mother like that,” Pepper said.

Josie nodded. “A terrible shock.”

“It’s bad enough when your parent passed, but to be the one to find them…” Pepper soothed.

“Yes … Oh, I didn’t find Mom,” Josie said. “Aunt Marion did.”

“It’s still awful. I’m sure you had to see her.”

Josie’s eyes welled and took on a faraway look. “No, I was asleep in the library.”

Pepper slid her eyes over to me. Josie was lying.

“Well, it must be nice to have such a close family and have had everyone around you that morning,” Pepper continued her covert interrogation.

Josie snorted. “Close? They’re a bunch of vipers. They were all only here because they are living off Mom’s money.”

“Oh, well, I’m sure there’s plenty to go around,” I said.

“Pfft.” Josie sipped more tea. “Not if you ask Lisa. She doesn’t think there is enough for her. And my brother, well, he won’t say boo to his wife. Who knows what Max is up to, always lurking around, and I can’t believe he talked Mom into letting him use the cottage. What does he do out there? We have a lot of old family stuff out there, and I don’t like the idea of him fooling around with it.”

“Evie and Julie must have liked being so close to their grandma, though,” I said.

Josie’s face relaxed into a smile. “Yes, my two girls were very precious to Mom. The girls are so different from each other. Did you know they were twins?”

I nodded. “Yep. Seems they do a lot together.”

Except worship the moon in the middle of the night—only Evie does that.

Josie bit her lip. “They did until Julie hooked up with Brian. Oh, he seems nice enough, very interested in family gatherings and the Hamilton history, but I can tell Evie doesn’t like him.”

“Maybe she’s jealous that Julie has found someone and she’s a third wheel,” Pepper said.

Josie frowned. “That’s probably it. She doesn’t seem interested in finding anyone of her own, though. More interested in sleeping in late and reading. Evie and Mom were the closest…” Josie’s voice trailed off, and she picked a scone off the tray. “These are good. Cranberry?”

“Yes, my grandmother’s recipe,” Pepper said. “I suppose your family had some great old recipes.”

“Recipes? Mom hasn’t baked in years. Evie wanted her to teach her, but the lessons didn’t take. We have a cook, so why is baking necessary?”

“Good point.” Pepper poured more tea into Josie’s cup, and the conversation turned to more mundane matters. Josie talked a lot but seemed introspective, as if she were paying little attention to the two of us in the room with her. Was Pepper’s droning charm taking effect?

I put my full teacup down on the saucer. “May I use your bathroom?”

Josie waved her hand in the air, barely acknowledging my question. “Whatever.”

I slipped out the door into the hall and managed to get into the library unnoticed. Now what? I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something important in the library, but where? Was the recipe book in here? There were hundreds of books. It would take me forever to search the entire room.

“Adelaide?” I whispered. No such luck. Ghosts rarely turned up when you wanted them to.

My eyes fell on the daisy painting. I had been interrupted before when I was searching for the recipe book on the shelves underneath—maybe I should start there. Just as I got to the painting, though, I heard a noise in the hallway.

Someone was coming!

I didn’t want to be caught snooping in the library again, so I slipped into the reading nook and plastered myself against the wall behind the burgundy velvet drape. I held my breath as I heard someone coming into the room. Then I heard strange clanking and scratching sounds. I risked peeking and was surprised to see Lisa take a silver candlestick off the fireplace mantel and drop it into an oversized burlap tote bag, where it clanked against whatever else was in there. She turned, pressing her index finger to her lips, her eyes lighting up as she spied something on the other side of the room. I ducked back behind the curtain as she made a beeline in that direction.

“What are you doing?” A male voice sounded from the direction of the doorway.

“Nothing.” Lisa, defiant. “Not that it’s any of your business anyway, Brian.”

“It looks like you’re stealing stuff,” Brian said.

“I’m not stealing. I’m collecting things to sell. We have too much stuff, the house is loaded, and we need to pare down a bit, don’t you think?”

“No. I don’t. This stuff isn’t yours to sell off at some auction.”

“I’m not taking it to
some auction
. Felicity Bates has expressed an interest in buying some of our family things. She’s especially interested in these books here. She’s a collector.”

“I don’t care what she is. I don’t think you should be selling anything. This is for the family to decide on.”

Lisa snorted. “Well, since you aren’t family, I guess you can butt out.”

Lisa and Brian continued arguing, but I had stopped listening as soon as I’d heard the name Felicity Bates. The mere mention of the woman made me shudder. She was bad news, as I’d found out quite painfully when I’d first moved to Mystic Notch. Rumor had it she was some kind of a witch, and witches used spell books. She was no book collector. She was after
Betty’s Recipes
.

Marion’s harsh voice interrupted my thoughts. “What are you people doing in here?”

I shrank back farther into the nook.

“Lisa was stealing things and putting them in this bag,” Brian said.

“Stealing? You put those back.” I heard scraping and clanking sounds, which I assumed was Lisa putting the things back, and then Marion said, “Now get out of here, both of you. There’ll be no more stealing or appropriating of goods. These are all Hamilton family heirlooms, and neither one of you is welcome to them.”

I could hear the sounds of Marion herding Lisa and Brian out of the room. I wanted to go back over to the painting and look for the book. I was sure it must still be here somewhere. Otherwise Felicity Bates wouldn’t be trying to get Lisa to sell the books to her. But I didn’t dare stay in the room any longer. I’d already been gone for quite some time, and I was afraid that even with the droning charm Josie might notice how long I’d been missing. I couldn’t run the risk of the Hamiltons becoming more suspicious of me. I might need them to answer questions later on.

As I slipped out of the library, a dark figure at the end of the hall caught my eye. Evie. She narrowed her eyes in an accusatory glare.

I waved cheerfully. “I was just looking for the bathroom. Wrong turn.”

I scurried back to the drawing room to collect Pepper and get the heck out of there.